Derek elley of variety called it a modernday character comedy with a touching edge, comparing it to 1960s european character comedies. Born in 1951 in xian, shaanxi province, in northcentral china, zhang yimou is, along with chen kaige, the most prominent of the fifth generation chinese directors and, by extension, one of the two most famous chinese directors, period. One of the challenges of foreign movies is to determine how they would play on their native soil. Zhang yimou great director profile senses of cinema. Billed as a comedy this movie is more a drama once you are past the first 20 minutes. An aging factory worker who has recently lost his job hopes to revitalize his life by marrying a fat middleaged divorcee.
Zhang yimou is an internationally acclaimed director working in the peoples republic of china. A poet of the small gesture, zhang yimou moves on from his sliceoflife dramas not one less and happy times to the more broad, operatic strokes of hero and the house of flying daggers. Zhang yimou s new film, happy times xingfu shiguang, explores the many costs of modern times. Dramas of desire and the power of the image zhang yimou is now the chinese filmmaker whose work is most widely known in the west, and he has clone more than any other director to give modern chinese cinema an international profile. Xingfu shiguang 2000 yimou zhang free download cinema of. Unusually for him, hes set happy times in modern times and ventures into the. Starring popular chinese actor zhao benshan and actress dong jie, it was an official selection for the berlin international film festival in 2002 zhang s next major project was the ambitious wuxia drama hero, released in china in 2002. One of zhang s smaller films, happy times is nevertheless moving and bittersweet.
Zhang yimous new film, happy times xingfu shiguang, explores the many costs of modern times. To optimize your experience with your screen reading software, please use our website, which has the same tickets as our fandango. He graduated in the fifth class of the beijing film. Awardwinning director zhang yimous romantic drama the road home. Zhang yimou celebrity profile check out the latest zhang yimou photo gallery, biography, pics, pictures, interviews, news, forums and blogs at rotten tomatoes. From the director of raise the red lantern and the road home, happy times is a charming, heartwarming comedy about the complex dynamics of relationships and the hysterical complexities inherent in making them work. Mayfair meihui yang ten years of suppressed energy. Zhang yimou rose to international prominence in the early 1990s with a series of films depicting a woman always starring his partner, gong li. Chinese director zhang yimous 11th feature is also his second urban comedy 1997s dark satire keep cool was his first, an extremely funny. This is a film that goes its own way to the end as it asks the audience, what you just saw, were they happy times or not. Unfortunately, this plan goes awry because zhao is too old fashioned to allow the couples to leave the bus door closed. But zhang is more than a professional artisan adapting his style in accordance with his latest assignment.
He is a director and writer, known for ying xiong 2002, house of flying daggers 2004 and curse of. Drawing on timely, engaging dispatches from the times distinguished team of china. About the author matthew focuses on international and china law, with a focus on technology and entertainment law and chinese transactional and ip work. Pretending hes the general manager of a nonexistent posh hotel happy times, zhao had to find ways and means of keeping both mother and stepdaughter happy.
Disparity in the treatment of those who break the laws in has fuelled anger about inequality in. Honglei sun, yimou zhang, zhang yimou, qinglong yang, weiping zhang. The question is a good one, and the answer, like this film, is sure to stay with you. It is about a group of unemployed men who build a fake room in an abandoned factory, move a blind girl into it, tell her it is in a hotel, and become her clients for daily massages, paying her with blank. So it was with his fascinating and wistful happy times xingfu shiguoang, 2000. Here, for example, is happy times, from the sometimes great chinese director zhang yimou. Zhang yimou, chinese film director who, as a leading member of chinas fifth generation, is known for films that explore sexual repression and political oppression. In 2008, zhang also directed the lavishly spectacular opening ceremony of the 2008 beijing olympics. On the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008, 2 billion tv viewers and thousands in attendance in the now famous birds nest were treated to an unforgettable spectacle at the opening ceremonies of the beijing olympic. Zhang yimous 10 best movies yi mou zhang, zhang yimou on allmovie. November 14, 1951, xian, the peoples republic of china. Thinking he has finally met the woman of his dreams, zhao leads her to believe he is wealthy and agrees to a wedding far beyond his means.
Yimou zhang was born on november 14, 1951 in xian, shaanxi, china. The two central characters zhao zhao benshan and little fu biao fu. Happy times, a relatively unknown film by zhang, was based loosely on the short story shifu. A woman married to the brutal and infertile owner of a dye mill in rural china conceives a boy with her husbands nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husbands heir without revealing his parentage in this circular tragedy. Firstly, minki choi minsik is an unemployed banker. Zhang yimou born november 14, 1951 is an internationally acclaimed chinese filmmaker and former cinematographer, and one of the best known of the fifth generation of chinese film directors. Zhao is an aging bachelor who hasnt been lucky in love. Music from the films of zhang yimou by christopher coleman. Happy times is set in presentday china, in a modern, unnamed city, exploring the many costs of modern times. Zhang yimou seven children claims trigger anger in china. Zhaos best friend li hatches the idea to raise the money by refurbishing an abandoned bus, which they will rent out by the. Zhang yimou is being investigated over the seven children claim. The great wall, the new york times, wanda group, zhang yimou.
Sinosphere, the china blog of the new york times, delivers intimate, authoritative coverage of the planets most populous nation and its relationship with the rest of the world. Filmmaker zhang yimous journey to becoming one of chinas leading directors has been filled with unusual, often dramatic twists. It said a lot for china, both positively and perhaps. What does the chinese film industry get from hollywood. Chinese director zhang yimous 11th feature is also his second urban comedy. One of the famed fifthgeneration directors of chinas growing film history, director zhang yimou has. The two central characters zhao zhao benshan and little fu biao fu feel passed by in a.
He represents a wide range of companies, from startups to nyse. He impulsively promises to provide her with a lavish wedding, then concocts a plan whereby he will raise the money he needs by transforming an old bus into a hotel appealing to. She, however, demands a lavish wedding and that zhao finds a job and another place to stay for her blind stepdaughter. Filmmaker zhang yimou to receive honorary degree bu. Chinese director zhang yimous 11th feature is also his second urban comedy 1997s dark satire keep cool was his first. Happy times the 2000 movie, trailers, videos and more at yidio. Zhang yimou biography life, family, name, story, history. The two central characters feel left behind in a rapidly changing beijing, and when. He graduated in the fifth class of the beijing film academy in 1982, along with classmates such as chen kaige and tian zhuangzhuang. His films, which include raise the red lantern, house of flying daggers, and the great wall, have won prizes at the cannes film. My top 10 zhang yimou films, who began his directing career in 1987 and has continued thru the present day. Zhang yimou produced by zhao yu, yang qinglong, zhou ping, zhang weiping. Meanwhile, zhaos fiancee introduces him to her spoiled son and beautiful blind stepdaughter wu ying, whom she sees as a burden.
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